One thing we love talking about here at Telematics.com is the real stories of companies saving money and making their drivers safer with telematics hardware and software, so it’s nice to have a story like that to write about on a Friday. Housing management company Wakefield and District Housing (WDH), has just announced that it’s managed to reduce insurance claims from its drivers by as much as 26 per cent since it installed its telematics system.
With over 400 vehicles and a workforce that’s 560 strong, chances are WDH is going to deal with a few insurance claims every year, but since putting telematics systems in its fleet of vehicles, it’s dropped claims by over a quarter in just the last year alone. The year before that, it reduced them by over a third. On top of that, by improving the efficiency of its fleet, it’s been able to reduce the number of vehicles it operates by a further 15 per cent.
Fleet manager at WDH, Rick Young said of the news: “With electricians, plumbers, plasterers and general builders to manage it is vital that we deploy the right person for the job. Our tradespeople are not always assigned to one vehicle, which is why driver ID is so important to us. We can see exactly who is driving what vehicle and where they are, giving us the ability to respond to each job individually with the correct and nearest driver – vital if it is an emergency,” he said.
“We have also established health and safety guidance for lone workers to monitor their safety whilst out on the road and understand the length of time they spend at each job, whatever its nature.”
On top of cutting back on claims and costs associated with managing the vehicles, WDH has also managed to reduce the insurance premiums of its workforce. Since installing the telematics hardware several years ago, it’s been able to collect a lot of data on its drivers and by sharing that with the insurers, premiums have gone down by an impressive amount.
Looking forward, WDH has plans to expand its fleet. Firstly it’s going to replace all of its vehicles with more fuel efficient VW vans, but thanks to company growth it’s also going to increase the size of its fleet of vehicles by 10 per cent, taking on more staff to handle the extra work load. Telematics hardware will of course be fitted in the new vehicles as well, with the benefits only set to be compounded thanks to the upgrade.
The hardware, software and analytics for the firm is all provided by Fleet Tracker, which offers the usual telematics benefits as well as a fuel savings guarantee, which must have been an attractive proposition for WDH. Fleet Tracker offers to give you your money back on the telematics purchase if you don’t save money on your fuel while using it. It also offers a patented “TVD” technology, or Transient Voltage Detection, which allows the company to track when an engine is idling, on/or off and doesn’t require an ignition sensor to do it. This helps cut back on wasted idling time which can impact an engine over time as well as cut into fuel savings.
[Thanks FleetWorld]
